Pellegrini unsure when key players will return from injury

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that Sergio Aguero is still struggling with a heel injury, according to the Daily Mail.

Despite the figures, Pellegrini believes City are capable of defending well without Kompany as they did it towards the end of last season, telling a reporter at the pre match press conference: “No, I don’t agree with your conclusions”.

Manuel Pellegrini wants Manchester City back at full throttle as soon as possible after a dip in form that has seen them win just twice in their last six games.

The Premier League side have only won two of their last six games in all competitions and are two points adrift of Juventus at the top of the standings.

“That is too many games for the same players, but we need to get a good result tomorrow”.

“Credit to Stoke, they are strong at home and the conditions suited their style of play and they had a good performance”.

“The most important thing is to qualify”, said the City manager.

“Maybe it’s the reason we didn’t play with the energy that we need to win”, Pellegrini said.

Several other senior players are still missing, however, including captain Vincent Kompany, fellow defenders Martin Demichelis and Pablo Zabaleta, midfielders Fernando and Samir Nasri and striker Sergio Aguero.

City fell to a shock 2-0 defeat to Stoke on Saturday and the manager is keen for his side to bounce back strongly in midweek.

City have yet to go beyond the last 16 of the Champions League since the club were purchased by Abu Dhabi in 2008. That is why it is more important to be a consistent team and not have this mix of different performances, especially individual performances. Kompany has missed the last five games with a calf problem while Aguero also had an earlier spell out with a hamstring issue and David Silva only recently returned after a near two-month absence.

“Over the complete game we didn’t have the energy to compete in the same way as Stoke”. “He had a very small muscle injury”. Many have started comparing him to Tevez, but Juventus teammate Leonardo Bonucci warned against heaping too much expectation on the youngster’s shoulders.

“I always miss important names but you have to play with the players you have”.

“That’s how we should be playing and we’re not”. Only wonderful goalkeeping from Joe Hart kept City in it and gave them the chance to eventually come away with a vital win, so the hosts can expect to be tested significantly again here.